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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29273265">Quartet in the Ballroom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flower Anon's MCYT collection [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>All Pronouns for Eret, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Dead Parents, Gen, Inspired by Anastasia (1997 &amp; Broadway), Jschlatt is Toby Smith | Tubbo's Parent, M/M, Ram Hybrid Toby Smith | Tubbo, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Song: Quartet at the Ballet (Anastasia 1997 &amp; Broadway), he's also dead, schlatt is there but not enough to justify a character tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:40:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,661</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29273265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The night of the ball. What was originally supposed to be a night about the Prince Ranboo Esempi quickly became a night about a lost prince.</p>
<p>(This is about the characters, please don't be weird and if you are a cc/plan to send this to a cc, turn away now. This is not for you.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alexis | Quackity &amp; Jschlatt &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo, Alexis | Quackity &amp; Phil Watson, Alexis | Quackity/Jschlatt, Eret &amp; Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Eret &amp; Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flower Anon's MCYT collection [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Quartet in the Ballroom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Yep, I haven't gotten this server out of my head, and yes this is in part an Anastasia au! It's more of a mashup of the movie and the musical, with some canon variance thanks to this being a very different source material.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The ball was to be hosted in Esempi lands this year. He knew he was only being invited due to his friendship with the Prince, but was surprised despite it. He was a commoner, an amnesiac who hadn't even remembered his own name. He'd gotten it when he met the King, she was kind and had taken them in. He also remembered when they adopted the Prince, the nobility was so angry with their refusal to take a partner or even lay with another for the sake of producing an heir, but had eventually yielded when he had found the scared hybrid boy. The only thing he did remember was a song his mother had sang for him many years ago, though the lyrics were long lost to his mind. The sound remained, but the rest was lost.</p>
<p>They were all uncomfortable with the prospect of a ball, but Prince Ranboo had to be presented to the remaining courts, they had to attend. Nothing was getting them out of that. And as such, they both had to be fitted for suits. Notably, it was a very awkward experience when one of you was over seven feet tall and the other had a tail. Well, they both had tails, but the prince's cord-like tail was far easier to work around than his own, which was small and fluffy. In theory it could be tucked into his suit, but could hurt him or lead to… less than desirable wardrobe malfunctions.</p>
<p>The fitting began and ended without many issues, to their delight. It took two weeks of planning and tailoring, and eventually the night of the ball arrived. They had been brought in at the very end, but Tubbo had heard the announcements of those who arrived before them. The Duchess Puffy, the Countess Nihachu, the princes of the Empire. And of course, the only remaining royal of a once great nation, the King Consort Quackity. </p>
<p>According to the rumors, the night of the coup, the night his husband had died, their only son had been lost to time. No one knew where he was or if he lived. Yet still, he carried on, running his house as though he wasn't a widow and a grieving parent. He was nothing more than a status symbol, but the other royals accepted him with open arms due to the nature of the coup. Everyone had known it was a greedy military play for power, everyone knew that they had not intended to kill their King, or at least that the majority of them did not. Undoubtedly there had been a number of true insurrectionists among the group that had taken his family from him. Everyone knew of the hope he held that his son may have survived, of the way he kept a quiet determination in his eyes, a silent promise of restoring the honor of the family he had lost.</p>
<p>A voice, clear as a bell, perhaps it was Sam, rang out. "Now to present to you His Majesty, the Crown Prince Ranboo Esempi and his vassal, Tubbo." It was showtime, their time to make themselves known to the world. With his father already on the other side of the curtain, Ranboo pushed it aside and walked out onto the ledge, and if anyone saw the slight tremble in his hands, they didn't mention it. Tubbo followed his friend at the respectful three paces, a rule they would not have cared for if they were not being presented. The crowd clapped, King Eret gave a small speech and thanked the other courts for their attendance, and waved his child and his friend onto the ballroom floor. While her own child did not take to the floor very well, they noticed Tubbo had like a fish to water. He wove through the crowd and had struck up a conversation with Prince Theseus and a noble or two from his court, Charlie and Minx, if he could remember their names correctly.</p>
<p>The four kings (or more aptly, a king, a "consort," a leader of an alliance and an emperor) stood apart from the others, content to let the "younger" generation have their peace, despite at least half of the crowd being older than all of them bar Emperor Philza. Eret laughed along to one of Dream's bad jokes, but kept a closer eye on his old friend. Technically the other man was a lower noble of the Esempi courts, but after a ball some twenty years ago, none could deny the man was as Manbergian as they came. He'd had a fire in his heart none of the other children they'd grown up with had, a fire that led him to a whirlwind romance with the newly crowned king. Eret found herself smiling at the memory, the three of them and Prince Wilbur laughing like they were children again and not the inheritors of the world on the night of their wedding. The happiness was short lived though, it had been ten years since the coup to the day, it had happened at a ball they had hosted. The noises of their friend in pain still shook them to this day.</p>
<p>The consort in question stood rigid, though none had seen him as such, he was a king in his own right and it was only thanks to the backwards rules of the courts that dictated his place as lesser. His eyes were caught on the young man with the Prince, trying to deny the pull he felt to him. His hair… the eyes and even the ears and horns… no, his Tobias was a distant dream. It felt right though, to watch him converse with the Antarctic princes, he got on with Tommy and Wilbur just as Tobias had, all three raising their voices before laughing so hard Wilbur was supporting himself on a nearby table. In a way, it reminded him of his own childhood, growing up with people in far higher places and flourishing. He jumped slightly at a hand dropping onto his shoulder, but calmed to see it was only Phil. "It's been a while you've been inside huh, you wanna come with me and stretch your wings a little?"</p>
<p>Phil was always a kind man, stepping in like a father for all of them, since of the four kingdoms, two had lost their monarchs at a young age. No one knew exactly how old Dream was, the moniker being passed from ruler to ruler. They knew he had once been Clay, but couldn't tell when the name of Dream had changed hands from father to son. But of course, he took Phil's offer, eager to finally shed the heavy cape on his shoulders. The two walked in relative silence to the courtyard. "I… uh, thank you. I don't like being seen as weak by the others. I'm a grown man and--"</p>
<p>"Don't go making yourself feel like that Q. It's been ten years yeah, but you're still a person even before being a royal, and one that went from one of the most powerful people on this continent to a glorified dress up doll. Healing isn't a straight line, especially after a loss like yours, trust me. Time doesn't matter, your first time falling in love was your one, and you couldn't trust anyone enough to talk about it. You're gonna be okay one day, and anyone who thinks today has to be that day can take it up with me."</p>
<p>The thank you went unsaid, they could both understand without saying it. Meanwhile, the trio of young boys had snuck off from the main party, Ranboo wanted Tubbo to show Tommy the song he remembered to see if the other prince knew anything about it. He hadn't, but had said that it reminded him of his friend Tobias. "Like the missing Manberg prince?" </p>
<p>"Yeah! We used to be friends when we were little, he couldn't say Theseus, it was actually him who started calling me Tommy. I always called him Toby. Wil and Techno were friends with the king when they were our age, so we were there a lot on "diplomatic visits" that were really just an excuse for us to all hang out… I miss him. Think his mom's right, he's out there somewhere."</p>
<p>"His mom? But I thought the king was married to a man?"</p>
<p>"Yep! Wil told me it was a misunderstanding when we were really little, but everyone found it so funny they didn't tell 'im off! And cause of that, King Q became Momma Q to Toby. Pretty sure one time Jack called him the king's wife or queen or something and got decked. Dickwad deserved it."</p>
<p>The other boys broke out in laughter at Tommy's crass sense of humor, but they also felt a sense of remorse. However, like he often did in their lessons, Tubbo spoke before he thought. "What if we show my song to the King? If it reminded Prince Theseus of the lost prince maybe it'll be nice for his err… mother? Too? It's the tenth year since he went missing right? It could be a nice thing to do…?" Of course, the others agreed and went to Eret, the ruler who'd be most likely to know where he'd gone, considering it was his castle and all. "Dad!" "Your Majesty!" "Oi! D'you know where my old man is? He said something about taking Q and going for a flight to keep their wings okay or something like that."</p>
<p>Eret smiled, glad that their boy had made such good, if spirited friends. Ruffling the youngest prince's blond hair he let them know yes, they had left for the courtyard but to be polite and quiet because she had a feeling she knew what they were speaking about. With a bounce of the heels, a lazy salute and a nod, the boys were off again. He sighed and looked to Dream, the other ruler matching the smile the boys had worn. "Don't worry too much Eret, they're good kids. They probably just want to talk about planning a sleepover or something." The man in green turned back to his friends, and Eret was left to their thoughts, or as to their thoughts as one could be when Nihachu, Puffy and Minx were trying to draw him into their conversation.</p>
<p>They all but sprinted to the courtyard, slowing only when they were nearly there. It didn't sound like either man was crying, so the trio entered to the two men performing stunts that would look terrifying to anyone who hadn't grown up around the two of them. Of course, that meant Ranboo and Tubbo were terrified. Tommy really had to work his voice to make himself heard over the slight panicked shouting of the other two. "Hey dad! Can you two come down for a minute, we got something to show ya!"</p>
<p>The pair dropped to the ground, and Quackity wouldn't be lying if he hadn't felt better than he had in years while up in the air. But he was definitely curious about whatever the trio of boys had to show, so he bit the bolt and said what he and Phil were both thinking. "So what do you have to show?"</p>
<p>He noticed the ram boy, Tubbo, try to shrink behind Ranboo while Tommy spoke. "Well Tubbo has this super nice song right! And it reminded me of when Toby and I were kids y'see, so we thought maybe you'd like to hear it too? If you don't wanna that's okay but, y'know! Offer's out there and all that!"</p>
<p>That… was not in any way what he expected. He'd expected some interesting bug or a rock that looked like a face, not a possible reminder of his possibly dead son. But still, he would be lying to himself if he said he didn't want to hear. "Okay, sure. I'll bite. Phil? You coming with?" The older man nodded, and the quintet moved back to the room with the piano. He watched the way Tubbo tried to hide, and the way the other boys promised him it was fine and the worst that could happen is someone started crying. It didn't take a genius to realize that the someone they spoke of was in fact him. When at last they made it to the darkened room, he couldn't help but be reminded of the night he fell in love. It was a similar room, the cold blue moonlight coming in through the large window. A calloused hand on his shoulder and a warm laugh ringing in his ears. He remembered a night of laughter, of nearly hitting his head on the floor when being dipped, of smooth recoveries and smoother lips… but the time for reminiscing was past him as the young ram sat down at the piano bench.</p>
<p>The opening notes brought to mind lyrics he hadn't sung in many years, and without a partner in far longer. <em>"A promise we have made, that rings from far away. That you and me, we will write our story and seize the day. So come what may, let this promise shine a light just for us to see…"</em> Had he been crying…? He had to have been, this boy who looked so much like his baby boy, his little Tobias, was playing the song that they had written for him. He couldn't bring himself to care about the appearance he so often put up, it was too much. "Wh-where do you know that song from?"</p>
<p>The boy jumped as if shocked. "I-I don't know… all I remember is my mother's voice singing it to me… it's the only thing I remember since before I was seven Sir."</p>
<p>Phil's eyes were bugging out of his head. Seven? That put the kid at… "Just around the time of the coup…? Phil, he might be, no, he definitely is…" "He's probably your son Q. Looks like your wishful thinking turned out to be the truth."</p>
<p>Tommy and Ranboo were shocked. The adults were saying Tubbo was the long lost Manberg prince? It kinda made sense when they thought about it. The ears, the horns, the way he made talking to the nobility look like an art form despite his anxieties. "Well aren't we fuckin dumb 'Boo. He's a dead ringer for his old man!"</p>
<p>"One never call me that again, two I was only adopted after the coup so I never met the guy this is on you."</p>
<p>"Theseus, language." "Yes dad."</p>
<p>Tubbo found himself in a state of shock. The king and his husband were his parents?! He was… he was a prince? None of it felt right, but the longer he looked at the crying man in front of him, the more he felt like he remembered. Breakfast in a room filled with sun and flowers, bumblebees lazily buzzing by. Dinners spent laughing while his parents did a mockery of a waltz in the empty space of the hall. Being tucked in while a storm raged outside, his father holding his hand until eventually they both fell asleep. Playing in a nearly vacant training hall with Tommy and his brothers, swinging a wooden sword from his place on Techno's shoulders, Tommy doing the same from Wilbur's. Someone screaming in pain, someone in fear, a man pushing him, his father yelling for him and mom to run. It all came back in a wave and he pressed his hands to his head as he himself screamed, desperate for the flood of information to cease. "It hurts… M-mom it hurts… my head…!" He was vaguely aware of a heavy cloak being wrapped around his shoulders, but it was too little grounding just barely too late. He could feel the world going dark.</p>
<p>Eret sat shell shocked in the room she had entered. A screaming Tubbo, an equally shocked Phil, a sobbing Quackity, what the hell had happened?!? They approached their son, the only one to be keeping a cool head. "What happened? I heard screaming and came as soon as I could. No one followed me, you can be honest." "W-well, I think we might've accidentally found the Manberg prince?" "The wh-- who-- how? You know what, all of you stay the night, I'll tell Techno and Wil. We'll figure this out tomorrow, can you take him to his room?" His son nodded and nudged Tommy into helping him take their friend to his room, which was a real room, Eret had never been one to believe in keeping so-called servants in lesser quarters. The shocked king 'consort' followed them a handful of steps behind. "Okay, Phil, you're probably the only one who can tell me what the literal <em>Aether above</em> what happened. Please…?"</p>
<p>"Mate, I'm not sure if I know myself. All I know is the kids brought us here to hear a song, Quackity started singing to it and now Tubbo, or should I say Tobias…? Anyways the kid apparently had his memories come back and apparently is the lost Manberg prince."</p>
<p>Tubbo was in truth the Prince Tobias. Because of course he was. They were going to be in such deep shit if they couldn't explain that they didn't even find the kid until he was ten and had known there were plenty of ram hybrids with ears and horns. "Woah, you look like you're about to blow a fuse. Don't worry too much about it, you've known Q how long now? He's gonna understand, as far as most of us knew the kid coulda been dead. Now c'mon, let's get the others and let them know about the change in our schedules."</p>
<p>Numbly they walked out to the main hall, where Phil pulled his sons aside to let them know. Techno had always been one to go with the flow, and everyone at court knew Wilbur and Sally, the daughter of some count in their lands, had been having something of an unofficial courtship. As a result, neither man asked questions and simply accepted their fate of staying another night in Esempi.</p>
<p>Tommy let himself be claimed by sleep on the floor of Ranboo's room, as he'd given it up and went to sleep in what was normally Toby's room, wanting to give the parent and child a room for themselves. Tommy had simply passed out on the floor thanks to the excitement of finding his best friend leaving his body. Quackity smiled at the boy's antics, remembering fondly a time where he had found him in very much the same position during a sleepover. Resigning himself to being the "mama duck" his husband had so affectionately referred to him as, he lifted the sleepy boy and moved him to the couch. Taking a seat on the side of the bed he brushed his son's hair out of his eyes. "If only you could see him now… we joked about it then but he really does look just like you Jay."</p>
<p>If anyone had been given the gift of seeing ghosts, they would've seen another man take his son's hand, seeing his husband in his softer face. He really was a blend of them both. He saw his husband start to drift off, and for the first time in many years left a kiss on both their faces.</p>
<p>The morning came as swiftly as the night had, and eight people sat in the dining hall. The twins were in mild stages of shock, but came to terms with it far better than anyone else. Why wouldn't they, they had no part in any of it, all they knew is the boy their dear friend had given his life for was still perfectly alive in front of them. That made them feel slightly better, if he was dead they would've been more shocked. Schlatt hadn't raised a child who couldn't survive. They hadn't helped him train a child who didn't know to hide if he could not run and run if he could not fight for him to die. Thankfully, an agreement was settled fairly easily, Eret offering to keep Tubbo with himself and Ranboo for his own safety (as he had preferred Tubbo, Tobias was a name behind him, though Tommy and the others could call him Toby if they wanted to.) Going back to the kingdom he'd been born to could've spelled disaster and more bloodshed.</p>
<p>It was a saddening thought, but the three kingdoms had no relation to the modern Manberg. They hadn't founded trade deals and peace treaties with the insurrectionist military rulers. No, they had made such agreements with a pair of men who could lead the country to a bright and honest future. It had been their status as hybrids who married other hybrids, who wanted to make hybrid equality laws, that had cost them in the end. In the end, their king was a status symbol and had planned on leaving anyways. So when the time came, he took what he could from his quarters. His engagement ring, their wedding bands, the only remaining family portrait, a music box and locket that had been early gifts in their courting. And then he ran. Ran past the guards not as the king, but as a man with nothing to lose. He hit the portal and found himself flung right into the throne room of the Antarctic Empire. "Heyyyy Phil, surprise?"</p>
<p>And just like that, ties were cut with Manberg. The only person any of them had kept an agreement with the country for had left. Dream had been informed of the events, taking them in stride before going off to pace as his friends reassured him though his inevitable spiral over the past he'd known under his father being flipped on its head. And if the existing deals between the Empire, Kingdom, and Alliance tightened and the "diplomatic visits" increased in number again, who had to know?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the lullaby is "A Distant Promise" from Man On The Internet's Chrono Trigger the Musical!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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